Monday, July 14, 2008

Writer's WORDSHOP

Today’s lesson was on Yin-Yang, expressing the creative tensions that are part of life. This poem came out of our lesson’s discussion and needed to be expressed.

HATE/FORGIVENESS

It’s so easy to hate and hold lasting grievances
When we are deeply hurt, but that only doubles
The pain of the original offense as we hurt ourselves
Every time we express anger. How difficult to change
Rejection into forgiveness, to look past the harmful act,
See the hurting person who furled the insult at us,
Brought our world to a stop by their labels or misbehavior
Unjustly and unlovingly thrown in our pathway

We don’t have to accept their judgments of us
Only God can judge us or them, we are here to love,
Support and help each other on our journeys
The shield of self defense only says that we acknowledge
There is validity in their criticisms, defending ourselves
When we need not, drains our energies, better to say…
“Forgive them. Father, for they know not what they do”
As our Savior exclaimed, while hanging on the cross

5 comments:

  1. Beautifully expressed Lin!!

    It's so refreshing for me to read your posts..and to read the posts of some of the lovely women you have introduced me to through your blog. I love reading what women with a certain maturity have to say, and to share in their attitudes about and zest for living

    The young girls that are on my site are just that... young girls. Every one of them. They share lots of pictures of babies, lots of advice about the best dish soap to use and the best locations to take the kids for a play date. I love reading them, and responding to them ..I do. They're all nieces, young women who lived with us at one time or another, or some of my daughter's very best friends and I'm sincerely interested in their lives. But, my life has moved beyond what they write about for the most part.

    I relish posts like this one. Words with experience behind them. Insights that have been earned by climbing some of the rocky ridges that loomed in our varied pasts. Growing older carries wisdom on it's shoulders. It stretches my soul to ponder such thoughts.

    I'm not one to carry bitterness or disappointment for more than a minute. (No doubt the influence of my very upbeat parents... had Satan himself come up from the depths of hell and sat at our dinner table... my mother would have passed him the potatos and asked him about his day. She loved everyone!! She was completely and totally without guile. My father didn't believe in anger. He thought it was such a waste of time and energy.) But, I do have a tendency to let myself feel sorrowful about other people's broken hearts and broken spirits. I'm beginning to recognize how much negative enery that carries to the people I'm so concerned about. It is not a healing exercise... for anyone.
    So your words struck a chord. Once again, I find myself thanking you.

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  2. Lin..that is a beautiful poem with words to ponder on. Thank you.

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  3. You are a wonderful writer. I love these words. and I love the "wordshop". :)
    Thank you for sharing your blog - it's a very nice site and for dropping by. :)

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  4. That was good to read. Food for thought for sure! Keep it coming!

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  5. This is so good to remember although not always easy to follow. It's something to strive for.

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